Apparatus for processing materials by ultrasonic waves oscillation



1970 TAKASHI HATUKANO 3,487,582

APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MATERIALS BY ULTRASONIC WAVES OSCILLATION Filed Feb 7, 1.967

2 Sheets-Sheet l 4 iUR/VEYS m ww Jan. 6,. 1970 TAKASHI HATUKANO APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MATERIALS BY ULTRASONIC WAVES OSCILLATION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 7, 1967 I N VEIV .I/R. 774611 674/ TU/(A/Vo United States Patent 3,487,582 APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MATERIALS BY ULTRASONIC WAVES OSCILLATION Takashi Hatukano, 16-2 Todoroki, Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed Feb. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 614,443

Claims priority, application Japan, Feb. 12, 1966,

41/ 8,216 Int. Cl. B24b 7/22 US. Cl. 51-3 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A new method and apparatus using an ultrasonic waves oscillated needle is disclosed here for drilling gems, for example, diamond to form a hole therein and polishing or finishing the hold thus drilled.

The abovementioned method comprises repeating the steps of bringing an ultrasonic waves oscillated needle into contact with a material to be processed, supplying an abrasive between the needle and material to drill, grind or finish the latter while moving the former slightly downwardly, moving the needle thus handled upwardly for a predetermined distance, grinding the tip of the needle by rotating and moving it slightly downwardly While bringing a horizontally movable grinder into contact with the tip of needle having moved said predetermined distance, and separating the grinder from the tip of the needle by moving the former in a horizontal direction and simultaneously moving the needle downwardly for a predetermined distance to permit its tip to contact another material to be finished and giving ultrasonic waves oscillations to the needle.

According to this method, it is possible to grind the tip of the needle in rapid succession without removing it from its fixing member each time thereby obtaining satisfactory finished results with the ultrasonic waves oscillated needle in an etficient manner.

The accompanying drawings show an embodiment of apparatus of the present invention for carrying out the above mentioned method. This ultrasonic waves oscillatory finishing apparatus consists of a moving bed on which are provided a fixing plate for a material to be finished and grinding means disposed a distance apart from the former, ultrasonic waves oscillating means having a needle and its support or phone and being disposed in an up-and-down movable manner above said moving bed, movable means capable of moving said moving bed to the right and left against the needle in such a manner that when said moving bed comes to its stopping position at one side, said fixing plate is positioned right below the needle but when said moving bed comes to its stopping position at the other side, said grinding means is so positioned as to grind the needle, elevating means capable of moving up and down for the predetermined distance between a working point of the tip of the needle against the material to be finished and a grinding point of the grinder disposed a distance apart above and from said working point, and slightly descending means capable of slightly lowering said ultrasonic waves oscillating means at the time of finishing and grinding the material.

According to this apparatus, it is made easy to apply an automatic procedure to ultrasonic waves finishing of the material to be finished and grinding of the needle. Namely, as it is possible to arrange the tip of needle in a definite position always against the material, so is it possible to arrange an apparatus for supplying or recovering an abrasive in a fixed position and moreover,

since a grinding point is arranged also in a definite position, it is made possible to fix any grinding angle of the needle against the grinder.

Brief summary of the invention This invention relates to an ultrasonic waves oscillatory finishing method and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for drilling gems in particular and grinding and finishing the hole thus drilled.

For this purpose, hitherto, such a machine has been used as provided with ultrasonic waves oscillating means including a needle and a support or phone thereof disposed above a fixing plate for a material to be finished. In such a case, for example, diamond as a die material is placed on said fixing plate and the needle is caused to descend against said material for drilling a die hole therein by supplying an abrasive between the needle and material while taxing the needle with ultrasonic waves oscillations. In this case, the tip of the needle is liable to become dull in a short period due to the action of the abrasive. Therefore, it is necessary to remove it from its support or phone and to grind it to resume its best angle by means of a grinder disposed separately. According to this kind of arrangement, it takes more time to grind the needle than drill or finish the die material and moreover, it needs some skill to grind the tip of the needle to give a suitable angle.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for repeating said ultrasonic waves finishing procedure and the grinding step of the needle in rapid succession.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ultrasonic waves oscillating and finishing method for repeating the steps of bringing an ultrasonic waves oscillated needle into contact with a material to be finished, supplying an abrasive between the needle and material to drill, grind or finish the latter while moving the former slightly downwardly, moving the needle thus handled upwardly for a predetermined distance, grinding the tip of the needle by rotating and moving it slightly downwardly while bringing a horizontally movable grinder into contact with the tip of needle having moved said predetermined distance, and separating the grinder from the tip of the needle 'by moving the former in a horizontal direction and simultaneously moving the needle downwardly for a predetermined distance to permit its tip to contact another material to be finished and giving ultrasonic waves oscillations to the needle.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an ultrasonic waves oscillatory finishing apparatus consisting of a moving bed on which are provided a fixing plate for a material to be finished and grinding means disposed a distance apart from the former, ultrasonic waves oscillating means having a needle and its support or phone and being disposed in an up'and-down moveable manner above said moving bed, moveable means capable of moving said moving bed to the right and left against the needle in such a manner that when said moving bed comes to its stopping position at one side, said fixing plate is positioned right below the needle but when said moving bed comes to its stopping position at the other side, said grinding means is so positioned as to grind the needle, elevating means capable of moving up and down for the predetermined distance between a working point of the tip of needle against the material to be finished and a grinding point of the grinder disposed a distance apart above and from said working point, and slightly descending means capable of slightly lowering said ultrasonic waves oscillating means at the time of finishing and grinding the material. A further object of the invention is to provide an ultrasonic waves oscillatory finishing apparatus wherein there is provided a drill-depth measuring gauge on the frame of the apparatus above said fixing plate for the die material and said gauge can be positioned right above said fixing plate when the needle is placed in position for grinding purposes. Other objects, mechanism, action and effect of the present invention will become self-explanatory with reference to the following preferred embodiment of the invention.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of ultrasonic waves oscillatory finishing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a right-side view of the same. FIGS. 3I-V are illustrative views of action of the apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 shows an electric circuit for grinding the needle. FIG. 5 shows an electric circuit for ultrasonic waves finishing purposes.

Detailed description Firstly, reference is made to FIGS 1 and 2. In the drawings, the body of the present apparatus is indicated at 1, and on its horizontal portion 1 is provided a moving bed 2 freely movable to the right and left in a horizontal direction. On said moving bed are provided a fixing plate 3 for a die material and needle-grinding means 4 disposed a predetermined distance m apart from said fixing plate. The upright portion 1 of the body 1 has a member 1 provided thereon, in which is provided ultrasonic waves oscillating means 7 having a needle 5 and support or phone 6 thereof. In this case, the member 1 is adapted to be slidable up and down against the upright portion 1 while said means 7 is adapted to be slidable up and down against the member 1 Reference 8 is a drill-depth measuring gauge which is secured to the horizontal portion 1 of the body 1. Reference 9 is a needle-grinder provided on said grinding means 4. In this case, such arrangements are made that when the grinder 9 is in position for grinding the needle 5, the gauge 8 will be positioned right above said fixing plate 3. The needle 5 and its support or phone 6. of said means 7 are so adapted as to move up and down for a predetermined distance by means of conventional mechanism with a motor M against the main body of said means 7.

The descending point P of the tip of needle may assume its working point for the die material on one hand and the ascending point P of the tip of needle may assume its grinding point for grinder 9 of needle-grinding means 4 on the other hand. The entire assembly of said means 7 is capable of slightly moving downwardly by means of a conventional mechanism with a motor M against the body 1.

, The fixing member 3 is caused to tend toward said working point P by means of a spring or the like and is made rotatable by means of a conventional mechanism with a motor M Reference 10 is an apparatus for pouring or aspirating an abrasive agent, being opened for said working point P and having a motor M a pump 10 and an aspirating pipe 10 In FIGS. 1 and 2, the character M indicates a series of motors, namely, M is a motor for rotating the needle 5, M for elevating and lowering the needle 5 and its support or phone 6 for a predetermined distance, M for slightly lowering the assembly of means 7 against the body 1 of apparatus, M for moving the moving bed 2 in a horizontal direction, M for pivoting the fixing plate 3, M for rotating the grinder 9, M for reciprocating the grinder 7 in the axial direction and M for supplying an abrasive agent to the working point P and recovering it therefrom. All the motors M to M are electrically connected to a push button device 11.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show their connecting conditions. Each motor is connected to its driven member respectively through a mechanical element of conventional type. Said push at e device 11 consis s of button A for ini ing the finishing procedure for the die material, button B for actuating the grinding means, button C for energizing the motor M button D for recovering the abrasive agent and button E for stopping the apparatus in any arbitrary position. Said needle-grinding means 4 consists of a support plate 13 capable of pivoting angularly around a support shaft 12 as the center thereof, a plate 14 so disposed on said support plate 13 as to be adjusted forward, backward, to the right and left toward FIG. 1, the motors M and M disposed thereon and the grinder 9 to be driven connectively by means of the motor M and its transmission element 9 The external circumferential edge of the grinder 9 is so arranged as to pass through the central line 12 of said support shaft 12 and hence it is made possible to adjust the angle of the tip of needle 5 by pivoting said support plate 13 around its support shaft 12. Reference 13 is a fixing screw for said support plate 13, and 13 a guide hole for said screw, said hole being formed in an extension 2 of the moving bed 2.

The action of the present apparatus will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. In understanding what will be explained hereinafter, particular reference is made to the needle 5 standing still in contact with the diamond die d, namely, the electric circuits shown in FIG. 3I to FIG. 4.

When pushing the button B for actuating the needlegrinding means, a relay switch L starts to work on so that the motor M can rotate thereby causing the support 6 and the needle 5 to elevate. When the member 7 in sup port of the needle comes in contact with an upper limit switch L said switch comes off as shown by the broken 'line in FIG. 4 thereby causing the motor M to stop and energizing the motor M for the purpose of reciprocating to the right and left. .(See FIG. 311.) Then the moving bed 2 is caused to move the distance on to the left toward the drawing until it comes into contact with a left-side limit switch L which in turn comes off shown by the broken line in FIG. 4 thereby causing the motor M to stop. At this stage, the needle 5 is understood to have reached the position to contact the grinder 9. At the same time with the switch L being switched over, the motor M for rotating the needle, M for grinding purposes and M for reciprocating the grinder will start to rotate, thereby enabling the needle 5 to be ground. At this stage the motor M for slightly moving the needle is actuated by opening and closing the switch C thereby causing the needle 5 to descend slightly. (See FIG. 31H).

After completion of the grinding procedure, push the switch A and then relays R and R start to work for changing the direction of rotation of the motors M and M then the relay switch L comes on so that the motors M M and 7 may stop while the motor M starts to rotate thereby causing the moving bed 2 to move the distance a to the right and contact the right-side limit switch L By switching over said switch L the motor M is caused to stop, the motor M actuated for lowering purposes until the descending limit switch L is contacted to stop the motor M thereby causing the needle 5 to descend a predetermined distance. In this descending position, the tip of needle 5 is so positioned at the working point P as to contact the diamond die d under pressure. (See FIG. 3V). When the descending limit switch L starts to work and an ultrasonic waves oscillator is actuated by relay switch L7, the needle is taxed with ultrasonic waves oscillations. At the same time, by pushing the button D, the abrasive agent is supplied to the working site of the diamond die d. In this manner, the needle 5 is actuated to work for a suitable period, for example, about 2 minutes usually by means of a timer switch T so that the die d can be worked thereby. In this case, the motor M is driven by means of the descending limit switch L as well, so that the fixing plate 3 can be pivoted. (See FIG. 3V.) After 2, minutes have passed, the ultrasonic waves oscillator U and th mo M are caus d to s op y means of the timer switch T to complete one cycle of working operation. On the other hand, since the diamond die d thus finished is positioned right below the drill-depth gauge 8, it is made possible to measure the drilled depth of the die by said gauge 8.

When pushing the button E for stopping the apparatus at a suitable point, the electric circuits formed in all operating steps are cut off from their electric source so that the apparatus comes to stop just at this point of time, but when releasing said button E, the electric circuits will be formed again. Accordingly, if it is desired to repeat the same operating steps, the button E has only to be actuated in combination with working the other buttons.

According to the present invention, it is made easy to adopt an automatic procedure for application to the ultrasonic waves finishing and needle grinding. Moreover, as it is possible to arrange the tip of needle in adefinite position P against the die material, so is it also possible to arrange the apparatus for supplying and recovering an abrasive agent in a fixed position. Furthermore, since the grinding point is arranged in a definite point P it is also made possible to select any grinding angle of the needle against the grinder.

Thus, whlie the die material is being processed by the needle, the grinding means remains in a retracted position. On the other hand, while the needle is being ground by grinding means, the die material is arranged in such a position as its drill-depth can be measured by the drilldepth measuring gauge. Consequently, the present invention offers such an efiect that all the steps of finishing, needle-grinding and drill-depth measuring can be carried out in a short period of time very etficiently.

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasonic waves oscillatory processing apparatus consisting of a moving bed on which are provided a fixing plate for a material to be finished and grinding means disposed a distance apart from the former, ultrasonic waves oscillating means having a needle and its support or phone and being disposed in an up-and-down movable manner above said moving bed, movable means capable of moving said moving bed to the right and left against the needle in such a manner that when said moving bed comes to its stopping position at one side, said fixing plate is positioned right below the needle but when said moving bed comes to its stopping position at the other side, said grinding means is so positioned as to grind the needle, elevating means capable of moving up and down for the predetermined distance between a working point of the tip of needle against the material to be finished and a grinding point of the grinder disposed a distance apart above and from said working point, and slightly descending means capable of slightly lowering said ultrasonic waves oscillating means at the time of finishing and grinding the material.

2. An ultrasonic waves oscillatory processing apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, comprising the provision of a drill-depth gauge secured to the body of apparatus above said fixing plate for a material to be finished, in such a manner that said drill-depth gauge can be positioned right above said fixing plate when the grinder of said grinding means is in position to grind the needle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,766,364 10/1956 Higgins et al. 2,791,066 5/1957 Mahlmeister. 2,831,295 4/1958 Weiss. 3,094,814 6/1963 Barke et al.

JAMES L. JONES, JR., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. S159 

